A sea of red flags

The ceremony area for the Canberra Olympic Torch Relay at Reconciliation Place was cordoned off on four sides, and three of them were filled with Chinese students draped in red flags. Tibetans and East-Turkestan supporters had nestled themselves along one fence line, and police kept the groups separate.

There were scarce few Chinese faces protesting against human rights abuses, but Wai Hong, a science student at ANU from Hong Kong, stood out among them. He came by himself, carrying a white fitted sheet tied to two thin, hollow metal poles, with the Chinese characters meaning "Free Hu Jia" (釋放胡佳) printed in red on the centre.

He said that as someone not coming from the mainland, he had freer access to information, and was able to learn about the imprisonment of the famous Chinese dissident. Wai Hong explained why he had come: "It's basically because of the restrictions of freedom of speech. Hu Jia wrote four articles and put them on the internet. He was caught and sentenced to three years jail. He was not in good health and his lawyer was not allowed to visit him. There wasn't any open trial, it was just... it violates human rights."

"Chinese government attempts to suppress all the dissidents, and all the opinions against them, for the Olympics."

The corporate sponsors' promo vehicles were a bizarre addition to the morning. Preceding the torch wherever it went, Lenovo and Samsung trucks came blaring Michael Jacksonesque electro-pop, repeating the lyrics "it's got to be starting somethin', got to be startin' somethin'", with mostly thin young women dancing and waving tinsel pompoms on the back.

Free merchandise was also available, handed out or left in boxes for people to take: a plastic fan with Lenovo's latest notebook printed on it, and a paper telescope for looking above the crowd, also plastered with the company's brand.

Corporate sponsors Coca Cola, Lenovo and others were a driving force behind the scope of this year's relay.

Mr Hong's sentiments ran in stark contrast to the evident corporate opportunism, explaining that it comes at the price of the basic values of western countries: "The greatest achievement of western civilisation was this emphasis on the value of human beings. You are protected from any harm against you, and your property ownership is protected, and you get democracy. I don't think there is a similar emphasis on the value of human beings in China..."

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope told AAP that he believed the estimated 10,000 rallying students were, at least in part, organised with help from the Chinese Embassy. Front organisations controlled and funded by the Embassy, such as Chinese Student Associations, also played a significant role. Some students from the 60 buses that came from around Australia are on record saying they were provided with free food, accommodation, and travel. Others emphatically denied Embassy involvement and volunteered, for example, that they drove the 8 hours from Melbourne, leaving at midnight.

Chen Yonglin, the escaped Chinese diplomat, shared his thoughts about the source of extreme nationalism witnessed among the youth:"These people, this young generation, have been spiritually brainwashed. They are ignorant of history... for example, they don't know even the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, and they don't know even the Cultural Revolution. These people are young Red Guards. They are the same, totally. They're brainless. They just, when the CCP calls on them to do something, they will do it. They [the CCP] say it's good to have a revolution and they will do it. It's the same as the Cultural Revolution, agitated by the CCP.

"They're quite timid, actually. I told them: 'Go back to China and demonstrate in the streets.' And they just don't know how to respond."

Kent Liu, his Chinese friend who has been in Australia for 20 years, elaborated: "Those students, if you have a different idea from them, they will be angry, hateful and violent. They were born, educated by the CCP regime. They don't think. After Tiananmen Square, the CCP regime tried to lead people just to focus on money, focus on money." Chen concluded the apparent message: "Don't talk about politics, democracy, human rights: it's none of your business."

Nationalist sentiments spilled over into violence, abuse and intimidation, according to a number of pro-Tibet supporters.

Nicki Elliott, a caretaker and Tibet protester, attempted to engage in discussion with Chinese students. She and her friends carried photos of Tibetans who had been shot by the regime: "Some girls were trying to understand why we had these pictures, and they were trying to tell us it was propaganda against the Chinese government, that they weren't Tibetans, and that everything we've heard about Tibet is not true. She just kept saying: 'we believe the government, we believe the government.'"

Her friend, Nicolas, recounted another exchange with young Chinese males: "They were calling her a bitch, and every kind of insult. That's fanaticism."

Nicki said "They didn't understand that I was even interested in what they wanted to say, and they were just very aggressive and very in my face: 'Chinese government, Chinese government!"

Sally, who did not want to give her real name because her husband wants to return to Tibet, was with Nicolas and Nicki: "We were going to walk across the bridge but this guy told us not to; a young western guy who had a [Tibetan] flag - they beat him up, he was really shaken and had tears in his eyes."

She said she explained the reason she had come to protest, but the Chinese students rejected it, and rejected that she was married to a Tibetan, and claimed that they had each been paid $300 to come.

Other pro-Tibet supporters said they had flags wrenched from their hands or from around their necks, that they were spat on, had their balloons popped, had Chinese flags draped over them, were abused, told to "**** off!", or, in what they thought was an ironic twist coming from Chinese exchange students, to "Go home!" or "Go home mother *****!" "They just say the Chinese propaganda, just exactly the same words each person, as if they had been brainwashed," Sally said, "No matter if you show them something that's pink and you say 'this is pink', they'll say it's blue, because you're 'the enemy.'"

Chinese student activist Zhang Rongan was contacted by telephone. He said he was pleased with how the day went, and felt it was a harmonious celebration of the Olympic Games and torch relay enjoyed by many, including numerous Australians. He said the violence in Tibet was orchestrated by a terrorist minority supportive of the Dalai Lama. He denied accusations of violence on the day by pro-Chinese students, and said the pro-Tibet protesters are "brainwashed by the Dalai Lama."

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